Refrigerator vehicle body



Nov. 13, 1934. w, B. SMITH REFRIGERATOR VEHICLE BODY Filed Jan. l2, 1952 Patented Nov. 13, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

Generically this invention relates to vehicle bodies, but it more especially comprehends the type adapted to the transportation of frozen products such as ice cream and the like.

Prior to my invention, vehicle bodies of the character referred to above have commonly been made of pine or other comparatively heavy Woods, which were very poor heat insulators but were used on account of their superior structural strength and efficiency. It was customary toy incorporate in such bodies a'lining or filler of balsa Wood, balsa wool, cork, either in sheets or granulated, kopak or similar heat insulating material. In a body of this character the pine or other heavy wood was bolted, screwed, or pinned together and served as the structural frame which carried all the loads and stresses. This frame' was bolted or otherwise fastened to the vehicle chassis. The heat insulating material above referred to was attached to this structural frame and was not called upon to carry any of the stresses or loads. It is readily seen that a vehicle body of the character just described could be made very strong and rigid and if completely insulated wouldfully protect the frozen products which it contained. It would however, be extremely heavy and its weight would be out of all proportion to the weight of the frozen products which it Was used to transport.

In practice it has been found necessary on account of the defects above mentioned, to either omit some of the heat insulating material which entails a waste of the refrigerant or to so lighten the wooden structural frame as to seriously shorten its useful lift or to submit to the' inefficiency of operation, which is a direct result rof the extreme Weight necessary when a strong well.

'insulated body is constructed in the manner just described. y

Frozen product containers have been made entirely of balsa wood which acted both as the heat insulating material and as the structural walls of the container. A light and well insulated structure was thus obtained which was very efficient as a frozen product container provided it was not subject to any vibration, stress or shock and was not moved or jolted about when it was in a heavily loaded condition. It is readily seen that a container of this type would be entirely unsuited for use on a rapidly moving vehicle such as a truck since it would be subject to a constant series of stresses and strains of varying intensity and these stresses and strains, due to the extreme weakness of balsa wood insofar as local crushing is concerned, would cause the bolts, pins or screws which were used to fasten the various components of the body together to rapidly loosen thereby destroying the efficiency of the structure. 'Ihe addition of thin sheets of metal to the inner and outer surface of the balsa Wood would help matters somewhat but would not entirely remedy the condition referred to above unless they were of such thickness as to render the vehicle body useless due to its extreme weight. In all types of refrigerator vehicle bodies referred .to above with the exception of the all balsa body which I have shown to be inoperable the dead weight of the body is extremelyhigh and is out of all proportion to the weight of the useful load carried. It was in order to remedy and improve the undesirable conditions referred to above and to construct a refrigerator vehicle body light in weight, strong, rigid, simple in construction, and manufacturable at a reasonable cost that I invented the improved refrigerator vehicle body herewith described, which consists of a light trussed skeleton framework of welded or riveted or otherwise joined metal tubes or extruded or rolled metal shapes assembled in the shape of a solid rectangle with a plurality of transverse members dividing said skeleton frame into a plurality of separate compartments, the top, bottom, sides and partitions of this skeleton frame being encased, submerged or recessed into blocks or sheets of balsa wood or cork or other insulating material of the proper thickness. 'Ihe interior surfaces of the receptacle thus formed are vlined with metal and the exterior surfaces are faced with doped fabric, veneer, or other suitable material and the whole given a suitable protective finish. The body thus formed is attached rigidly to the vehicle chassis. Realizing that this form of construction is not suitable for kopak or other fibrous insulating materials, a vehicle body of equal or superior efficiency can be constructed byenclosing the outside of the structural skeleton framework above referred to with doped canvas or light veneer and fastening a blanket of kopak or 'similar material to the'outercovering and to the metal interior lining which is in this case constructed in the form of a plurality of cans, one for each compartment, supported vdirectly by the structural framework above referred to. `A somewhat similar form of construction can be made by applying light veneer or similar material to all surfaces of the skeleton structure both inside and out. The veneer on the outer surfaces is separated from the veneer on the inner surfaces by the structural members or by spacers acting in conjunction with said structural members and the spaces between said inner and outer sheets of veneer are filled with granulated cork, balsa wool, kopak or blocks of cork or balsa shaped to nt into the openings between the truss members, the whole being glued or otherwise fastened to the veneer panels, the inner surfaces as before lbeing lined with sheet metal and the outer surfaces being painted or covered with doped canvas, protected and decorated as desired. Doors are provided in all cases, one or more for each compartment and preferably that will more fully appear as the nature of my invention is better understood the same consists in the novel features of construction, combination, and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing and more more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to thel accompanying drawingin.

which like characters of reference refer to like parts throughout the separate views.

Fig. 1 is an end view of a motor truck body to which the principles of my invention have been applied. In this view one corner of the body has been cut away to show details of the internal construction.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation'of the body with a corner cut away as described above.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross section View of a portion of one of the walls, floor or ceiling of the above.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross section View similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating a. modified form of construction.

Fig. 5 is similar to Fig. 4 but is illustrative of another modified type of construction.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross section view of one of the partitions.

The following is a detailed description of the drawing. The body is of the enclosed type and comprises generally aplurality of compartments A, B, C, which are used for the stowage ofthe refrigerant such .as dry ice and which also hold the ice cream or other frozen product.V D is a compartment similar in al1 respects to the compartments referred to above except that it is commonly used for the storage of used or empty receptacles or food containers, thereby lightening the load on the front wheels to some extent and maintaining the vehicle in a better balanced condition than would otherwise be the case. It will be understood that when the vehicle is called upon vto carry an exceptionally heavy load this compartment may be used for the transportation of frozen products the same as compartments A,

.B and C referred to above.

The truck body consists essentially of a skeleton frame work of metal tubes or metal rolled or ex- This frame work is fabricated in the form of a solid rectangle and the sides, bottom, top and ends are divided intopanels which are diagonally braced in the same manner as a bridge or similar structure, the joints 9 of the metal members 1 being welded, riveted or otherwise joined. The structure thus formed isdivided into a plurality of separate compartments by traverse frames similar to the one shown on the end view Fig. l. The entire outer surface is covered with a layer of thin plywood planking or other light structural material 2. Inside and adjacent this outer cover and lying approximately in the plane of the steel trussed sides, floor, ceiling, etc.,l

is a layer of kopak or similar fibrous insulating material 5. The interior of the container thus formed is lined with light metal sheathing 6 properly shaped to fit the several compartments, each wheels of the vehicle 11.

of which is supplied with a door or similar opening 4 and the complete body is bolted or otherwise rigidly fastened to the frame work of the vehicle 3. A recessed portion 10 being formed in the body as shown to allow for the springing of the In Fig. 3 a cross section is shown of one of the metal truss members l, the external covering 2, the interior lining 6, and the ground cork or fibrous insulating material 5. Fig. 4' shows a modified form of construction where 2Avis the outer covering of light veneer or similar material, 5A is the ground cork, kopak or similar fibrous insulating material, 7 is an inner lining ofthe same general character as the outer lining, and 6A is the interior metal sheathing referred to above. 1A being a cross section of one of the structural members. Fig. 5 shows another modified form of construction which is composed almost Aentirely of balsa wood, cork or similar non-fibrous material 8. One of the structural members 1B is shown in section. '6B refers to the interior metal sheathing. The non-fibrous insulating material 8 referred yto `above is cut out so that the metal structural members 1B may` be submerged in it. In this form of construction the arrangement could readily be reversed, that is, the structural members 1B could be flush with the outside surface' of the insulating material 8 instead of with the inside surface as shown or they could be totally submerged` in the insulating material 8.

Fig. 6 shows details of one of the partitions the only change being the usel of a layer of the sheathing 6C on both surfaces of theinsulating material instead of using it on only' one surface as is the case with the external walls-of the body. It will be understood that either ofthe other types of construction as illustrated in Figs. 3

and 4 could be used for the partitions as well as the type illustrated in Fig. 6. Although vfor the sake of clearness, I have minutely described the embodiment of the principles of lmy invention, as the same are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, I do not wish to ,limit myself thereby, but claim broad1y:-

1. A vehicle body including a panel embodying a framework including parallel members, diagonal ybraces between the parallelmembers to absorb the torsional stresses, an insulating vmaterial` arranged between and surrounding said bracedframework, and a protective covering for ythe exposed surfaces of said insulating material.

2. A vehicle body including a panel embodying spaced surfaces to form a chamber therebetween, a tubular frame 1` within the chamber including a substantially rectangular frame braced with a. plurality of diagonally extending-elementsto absorb 4the torsional stresses transmitted to the frame, an insulating material' arrangedbetween and its 

